


Habit

by fuckthenaysayers



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, Multi, Secrets, Smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-09
Updated: 2014-04-09
Packaged: 2018-01-18 19:54:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1440790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fuckthenaysayers/pseuds/fuckthenaysayers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was a shameful habit to him, even though there were plenty of people at Roosterteeth who smoked, he still felt bad about giving in to the constant cravings. So when he and his fellow hunters began their strange but wonderful relationship, keeping it a secret became a constant worry. It was easy at the start, he'd just smoke when he went home on his own or very early in the morning when staying over with any of them. Once they all moved into Geoff's house, it was a whole level higher of difficulty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Habit

 

Everyone had little habits they couldn't get rid of, right? Some people bit their nails, others might play with their hair. Some habits were worse than others, there were plenty of people who spent money every week doing something bad out of habit like buying scratch offs or indulging in fast food. For Ryan, his most hated habit was obvious- he was a smoker.

It started off casually, like it often did. He was offered a cigarette or two during college and at the beginning only smoked when he drank or went to parties. Then he found it lessening his stress during things like his midterms or when he stayed up late on an essay, and soon enough he found himself smoking at least a pack a week. By the time he was hired at Roosterteeth he was up to a pack a day, though he was very careful to never exceed that amount.

It was a shameful habit to him, even though there were plenty of people at Roosterteeth who smoked, he still felt bad about giving in to the constant cravings. So when he and his fellow hunters began their strange but wonderful relationship, keeping it a secret became a constant worry. It was easy at the start, he'd just smoke when he went home on his own or very early in the morning when staying over with any of them. Once they all moved into Geoff's house, it was a whole level higher of difficulty.

He cut back extremely, not out of wanting to make the change but merely from fear of them finding out and judging him for it. None of the other men smoked, though Geoff admitted in a discussion that he did during high school and when he was in the army, though it was partly just for the 'rebellion factor'. Ryan had somehow learned to manage with sometimes less than five a day instead of his usual 20. One early in the morning in the bathroom with the vent on to hide the smell and smoke. Up to three on the days where he went to lunch on his own, and one late, late at night whenever he was able to stay up after all the others had gone to bed.

Somehow he was actually feeling a bit proud of himself for holding back so much, despite it not being for the best reasons. Of course, life had been rather easy lately, full of love and fun so he had nothing much to be stressed about, and stress is what usually drove him to smoke more. So it shouldn't have been such a surprise that it wouldn't last forever.

\--

"Ryan, I thought you were driving!"

The man looked up from his beer with a confused look, most of his lovers glaring at him accusingly.

"Wait, what?"

"I asked you before we left if you'd be cool with driving home tonight, since I've done it the last couple times, and you said yes."

Jack was clearly unhappy, arms crossed over his chest and a glare in his eyes. Guilt immediately flushed over Ryan as he realized that yes, that indeed happened and it had slipped his mind the moment they'd arrived.

"Oh god, I'm sorry Jack, I totally forgot. But I've just had two beers, I'll sober up before we leave."

"I don't like getting in a car with someone driving who's drunk anything, Ry."

Ray piped up quietly, the only one who hadn't been scowling at him, sitting at the end of the table with a coke in hand.

"Aww Ray, we won't be leaving for at least an hour or two, I'll be fine by then. I'll drink plenty of water."

"I dunno Ry, he's not wrong. That kind of thing worries me a lot."

Ryan sighed, Michael joining Ray's side was the last thing he needed.

"Well what do you want me to do then? It's not like I can go back in time and stop myself from drinking."

"It shouldn't be so hard to remember to not drink!"

"It slipped my mind! I haven't had to drive in like a month, so I forgot! Besides, you all were right here, none of you said anything about me drinking until now."

Geoff joined in now, and Ryan was clearly in over his head already.

"It's not our job to watch what goes into your body, Ryan, just like you didn't notice neither did we! But we weren't the ones drinking it, I think I'd realize when I'm drinking alcohol when I'm not supposed to."

"I'm sorry, what do you want from me? This is just an argument for the sake of arguments now, clearly I'm in the wrong but what can I do about it? I'll pay for us to take a cab when we leave if you don't trust me to sober up then, alright."

Ryan got up from the table with a huff, starting to walk off.

"Where are you going?!"

Gavin asked, in shock at Ryan losing his cool for once.

"I need some air!"  
\--

It took an awkward ten minutes for anyone to speak again at the table. Jack spoke first.

"We were kind of dicks, huh?"

A grumble of agreement came from everyone, all feeling a bit guilty for getting so worked up over a simple mistake. It wasn't as though they had no options to get home, so the group had quickly realized they'd overreacted a bit. Jack got up first, still frowning but now in worry that Ryan was upset.

"I'm gonna go apologize."

"Ahh, me too."

"Wait, wait."

Soon the entire group was getting up, intent on apologizing to Ryan who they expected to be taking a walk to clear his head. Instead they found him crouching in the alley next to the pub, a cigarette between his lips and at least a dozen butts littering the ground around him.

"Ryan?"

The brunette looked up immediately, paling as he saw the five men staring down at him with wide, confused eyes. Immediately putting out the cigarette he stood up, trying to stammer out an excuse, a half-empty pack clutched in one hand. Jack took it from him, counting how many were gone.

"Did you smoke 7 cigarettes in the time you've been out here?"

"...That's the second pack. Usually it's just a pack a day. I-I sort of have a problem with chain smoking when I get stressed out..."

The crew was as confused as ever, each straining their memory to recall any instance of Ryan smoking before. Gavin strangely enough was the first to be sure he'd never seen it, and spoke up.

"I don't think I've ever seen you smoking before, Ryan!"

"Mm well, I sort of... hid it from you guys?"

The latter half of the confession sounded a bit lighthearted, a sheepish smile on his face in a feeble attempt to make them not be mad at him for hiding it. Geoff made a bit of a sputtering sound, flabbergasted at the sudden revelation.

"Ryan, jesus dude, you don't gotta hide shit like this from us. I told you I used to smoke, I'm not gonna judge you for it."

"He's right."

Jack joined in, giving Ryan a comforting pat on the shoulder to affirm he meant it.

"We'd rather have you smoke a pack a day over chainsmoking like two packs in a span of a half hour. Everyone has their habits, and just because yours isn't the most healthy, we aren't going to shame or judge you for it. You're an adult, you know what you're doing."

Listening to Jack, Ryan began to wonder just what he was even worried about to begin with. He smiled, relieved that none of them would think differently for his habit.

"Thanks Jack. I'll try to cut back at least a bit too, I know it's not the best thing for me."

The group came in for a hug, each man giving Ryan a quick kiss as an apology before they all went back inside, agreeing to split the fare for their future cab when they were all wasted later.


End file.
